| Modest Mouse – Spitting Venom Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I posted corrections for it after an exhausting twenty minutes of listening(with my audiophile gear. :D). Any case where I couldn't interpret the lyrics, I referenced the papers that came with the CD, and in case those failed, I referenced other lyrics, so it's safe to assume these are now correct(unless you've got a live version.), or I made a typo. Aaaaanyway, I interpreted this as sort of saying "screw you, go to hell." Of course, there's a lot more depth to it than that, although in particular I agree with what xJotunx has said. Other songs on WWDBTSES(just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) have referenced the same thing, so I believe they're telling the fans that hate them for 'commercializing' to go screw themselves. The line "You can say what you want, but don't act like you care, it takes more than one person to decide what's fair." is one I'd like to mention specifically. It seems to represent my interpretation well, in that they're saying "hey, say whatever, but don't get mad at us for doing what we wanted to do, just because you want us to keep doing what YOU liked." Since I started writing this comment, I've also been thinking about the references to letting things "drop". Of course, there are two parts to this theory specifically: 1) "If you truly knew the gravity, you'd know which way to go." seems to be a reference to Gravity Rides Everything (along with the drop comments, of course), which could be seen as their first time 'selling out'. This helps to establish the theme, and provide something that they could "drop". 2) The "let it drop" comments seem to be conversational; as though they are trying to get the audience to just drop the topic entirely. When viewed in conjunction with the reference to "Gravity Rides Everything", it's clear that Modest Mouse wants their old fans to just shut the hell up and drop the topic already. This wall of text is long enough already, so I'll end it here. |
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| Modest Mouse – Missed the Boat Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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It's not pillar, it's pillow. Slow it down and it's easy to tell, and it especially makes sense contextually; if it was pillar, they'd have built a pillar to do... what exactly, about such and such and such? The pillow, as a device, enables them to soften it, or perhaps "sleep" and ignore it. They then use it as a crutch and depend on it entirely, becoming addicted(I've personally believed the 'pillow' to be their financial success, rationalizing small commercial interests, such as music being featured in... commercials, and then becoming addicted to that money, leading to GNFPWLBN). A pillar would work literally for that, but that's not exactly Modest Mouse's style. I've thought about that line specifically, and "Missed the Boat" really comes off as an apologetic song for me. It continues a lot of the themes from older material, but at the same time addresses the issue of fans believing they've 'sold out'. Cellerdore has addressed this fairly well, but I'm a bit of a detail-nazi, so I'll cover everything again for him. Specifically for the 'selling out' argument, he's "looking towards the future", but at the same time "begging for the past", or that he's trying to succeed, but at the same time misses that he isn't trying for the more unique styles of older Modest Mouse. The next section after that depicts that "Everyone's ashamed", because of how they've 'sold out', and gotten "caught looking at somebody else's page". Put simply, the fans are ashamed that Modest Mouse would break out of their style to try for pop. "Our ideas held no water, but we used them like a dam" represents how their songs were shallow and lacked the depth of their older works, and yet they used them to become extremely popular and successful. The third section reveals the band's take on it initially, they got a "fine promotion" as they laughed "all the way to hell", treating their new financial boons as a promotion, and laughing about it all the way to the bank. Interestingly enough, they seemed to have predicted this in Paper Thin Walls, since you need to "laugh hard, it's a long ways to the bank. I can't be blamed for nothing anymore. It's been a long time since you've been around." They're laughing all the way to the bank, and no longer being blamed for it, since they're tired of suffering through poverty for the sake of depth. Of course, they regret this through the fourth section, relying on the pillow of their new cashflow as a crutch, gathering up all the "water"(Money. Durrr.) with a bunch of ideas that held nowhere near as much water as their old works. The fifth section reveals their temporary happiness over it. Not much to this unless you want to go over GNFPWLBN in detail. The sixth shows how they suddenly regret 'selling out'. They missed the boat, which I'm interpreting as access to the real "sea" of money, and they missed the plane, which I'm interpreting as their loftier goals in their early songs. They even ignored an attempt to go back to the fans by ignoring the invite, so they just sit at their own wake partying to their new music. And yet, they cannot ignore that they wanted it. While they entertained their little crowds, and made small talk with them, getting a really die-hard response from all of the fans, they realize they've really missed out on the money. So they 'sell out'. It ends with how they've "carried it all so well", and remained pleased with the band through all of it, but help but regret all the things they've done wrong, and view themselves as broken, useless tools who can't even make something right. ...I have a lot of free time. |
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